Since joining Devon Energy Corp. in 2010, Toby Deen has been immersed in operational innovation—first in the Permian Basin, then in the Barnett and for the past two years in the Eagle Ford. In the latter, he led the company’s hugely successful effort to optimize flowback procedures after its 2013 acquisition of assets from GeoSouthern for $6 billion cash.

Deen’s older brother, a chemical engineer, encouraged him to work in energy. Local SPE chapter industry contacts he cultivated while earning a petroleum engineering degree from the University of Oklahoma helped him land an internship with Devon in his junior year and, after graduation, a full-time job and entrance into Devon’s three-year emerging professionals training program. He has also obtained his professional engineering license—a top item on his to-do list.

At the time of Devon’s purchase, the Eagle Ford assets were in full development mode, producing about 53,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, with 82,000 net acres and some 1,200 undrilled locations. The company tasked Deen with developing flowback—or choke management—procedures for the overpressured, volatile oil shale. At the time, he had never heard the term “choke management.” Given Devon’s late entry to the play, he figured he’d research what everyone else was doing, only to find that the current practices weren’t optimal. He laughs as he recalls his ensuing discovery that innovation can be “lonely.”

The solutions Deen eventually came up with have helped to increase 90-day initial production (IP) rates by more than 85% on the Eagle Ford assets without damaging the wells—an “incredible” response, he said. The answers involved capturing real-time data in the field, quickly understanding how it relates to well performance and making decisions based on that data. Devon threw its efforts behind this initiative by creating a corporate decision support center solely for flowback optimization, and today Deen is training engineers in other basins and business units on best practices and lessons learned in the Eagle Ford.

Despite his busy career life, Deen believes in giving back. He founded an SPE Future Trailblazers program in 2013 in Oklahoma City that has paired more than 75 students needing industry contacts with mentors. He and his wife volunteer at a nonprofit, Hope Retreat Ranch, that his father founded on the family ranch to provide equine-assisted therapy to children with disabilities. In his free time, he and his wife love to travel.

Recently, he discussed his work in the Eagle Ford.

Toby Deen

Investor How did you use data differently in the Eagle Ford development?

Deen The industry has become more adept at capturing data remotely, and it can be easy to become data-rich in the sense of gathering data points. But without the understanding and knowledge of how to use it, you can remain information-poor.

Investor Why is the flowback phase so important?

Deen Essentially, it’s the first opportunity to generate revenue for projects. The entire drilling and completion, facility and other investments have been made, so it’s critical to realize the most potential out of that period. The changes we’ve implemented have been a game-changer for the entire company.

From a technical perspective, if you get too aggressive with the way you produce a well, the risk of damaging the well increases. The industry’s experience in the Haynesville, where operators tried to get the highest IP rates and in so doing damaged wells, led operators to be more conservative. We’ve been able to crack the nut on that and maximize value while ensuring we are not causing damage.

The big change is to diverge from predetermined procedure. Every well is individually managed and optimized. We let the well talk to us; we know more in two weeks now than we used to know in six months.

Investor It sounds like Devon gave you latitude in coming up with solutions.

Deen It’s not too often that an engineer at my level is empowered to produce that kind of impact on a company’s overall performance. It highlights the level of assets we have and also the accountability for and ownership of those assets that we can have as individuals.

Investor How has your job changed as a result of the downturn?

Deen Continuous improvement, operational efficiency, driving down costs, maximizing production—that’s always the name of the game. The current environment demands we become even more innovative, and it comes down to execution to remain profitable. Necessity helps drive innovation. As an operations engineer, I play a critical role in that, and it is exciting and also challenging to have an even brighter spotlight on us.

We’ve had these challenges in the past—not just in commodity price cycles, but in other hurdles in my short time with Devon, and it’s easy to see that we can be quite resilient.

Although we’re going through tough times, on a macro level the economies and quality of life around the world will continue to improve with cheaper access to energy. It’s painful, but if we can overcome these challenges and figure out how to make money at this price level, that will benefit everyone.